USD Baseball 1984

JOHN CUNNINGHAM Head Coach

Beginning his 21st season as head coach of the University of San Diego baseball program, John Cunningham has guided the Toreros from a NCAA Divi- sion 11 power to one of the top programs in the Southern Califor- nia Baseball Association (one of the best baseball conferences) and the NCAA Division I ranks . A native of San Diego, Cunning- ham attended St. Augustine High

School where he was a scholastic and athletic standout receiving AII-CIF honors in baseball and led the County in scoring during his senior year basketball season. Cunningham attended the 'University of San Francisco where he again was a baseball and basketball standout, whi le also making the Presidents' Honor Roll six times and achieving membership in the National Jesuit Honor Society, "Alpha Sigma Nu." He received a B.S. Degree in History as well as a general secondary credential. In basketball, John was named to the All-Conference and Honorable Mention on the Catholic All-American teams. Baseball cornered him a professional contract with the Baltimore Orioles. In his senior year, Cunningham was USF's "Athlete of the Year." John began his career at USO in 1962, with 1981 seeing him win his 400th game. From 1969 through 1983, the Toreros have compi led eleven winning seasons out of fourteen. His teams have won thirty or more games five times, first in 1971; then back to back in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981. Four of his teams have gone to post-season play- offs; two of the four becoming regional champions and College World Series participants. The 1971 team won the regional title while setting the school record of 34 wins. For that performance, Cun- ningham was named Di strict 8 "Coach of the Year." 1979 was Cunningham's first effort at the Division I level. Contrary to expectations, he guided the Toreros to an impressive 32-19-1 record and a fourth place (14-12) finish in the SCBA. His 1980 Torero team finished the year at 30-25-1 (14-1 4 SCBA) and. in 1981 USO finished the year 30-15-1 and a fourth place finish in the Conference with a 15-12-1 record. 1982 was USD's first year under the .500 mark in SCBA action with a 13-15 record and a 29-24-1 overall mark. Last season was the fi rst time since 1975 that the Toreros overall record was under .500 as they fin ished 17-27-1. Besides coaching baseball, John works for the National League of the Major League Baseball Association as the San Diego Padres of- ficial scorer. He also works for the National Basketball Association as the San Diego Clippers official scoreboard operator. John and his wi fe Nancy were married in May of 1978. He has a stepson, Geoffrey, age nine.

CUNNINGHAM'S COACHING RECORD

YEAR

WON

LOST PCT.

1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983

12 17 20 14 13 22 21 34 20 19 23 19 26 24

19

.387 .447 .435 .350 .351 .564 .568 .739 .513 .463 .605 .487 .619 .558 .600 .615 .545 .545 .547 .386

21 26 26 24 17 16 12 19 22 15 20 16 19 22 19

(NCAA Regionals, 0-2)

(NCAA Playoffs, 4-2) (One Tie)

(One Tie) (NCAA Pl ayoffs, 5-3) (NCAA Playoffs, 5-3) (One Tie) (One Tie) (One Tie) (One Tie) (One Tie) (NCAA Playoffs, 9-9) (Seven Ties)

33 32 30 30 29 17

25 25 24 27

CAREER

455

414

.524

2